How To Find Your Default Gateway Address

You are a caveman living with all the technology that can’t connect to its brain in the ‘cloud’.

It means your computer or other devices can’t connect to the internet or any other network.

Luckily, you can fix many networking issues. However, you need to know your default gateway address to access the router setup through a web browser. Any troubleshooting efforts will go in vain without the network address.

So what’s this ‘gateway’ all about? Let’s start deciphering this networking myth gradually so that even the laziest of you can catch up.

What is a Gateway Address?

A network gateway joins two networks and allows devices on different networks to communicate with each other.

It’s the way you access the internet and send/receive date from web servers. Put simply, it serves as a ‘gate’ or a ‘node’ in a network.

When you read ‘default’ with the gateway, it simply means that your computer uses this gateway by default. However, applications can specify other gateway and therefore override the default gateway address.

Types of Network Gateways

There are different types of network gateways but they all do the same thing. They connect your computer and other devices in your home to the internet. Here are the common types of network gateways.

1. A broadband router usually works as your network gateway at home or in office
2. Your ISP’s router could serve as your gateway when using dial-up internet connection
3. A computer can work as a network gateway with additional networking hardware

Despite these different types of network gateways, you are probably using a wireless broadband router as your default network gateway. It’s the most common type of network gateways.

Now that you know all about routers and how they function as network gateways, let’s find your default gateway address.

How to Find Your Default Gateway Address

Finding the gateway address of your router is easy, even if you don't know your router's default IP. It only takes a minute whether using a Windows PC or a Mac.

Follow the simple steps below.

For Windows Users

To find the router IP address, you simply need to run Command Prompt on your computer and enter some commands to know your default gateway address.

Here is how to do it step-by-step.

1. Boot your Windows computer
2. Click on the Start button
3. Click on the search bar and type CMD
4. Now open CMD (Command Prompt) when you can see it in the search results
5. Alternatively, press and hold Win key and press R key on your keyboard to bring up the Run box
6. Now type CMD when you see the Run dialogue box
7. After you have launched CMD, simply type the following command in the CMD window
   “ipconfig”
8. Now press Enter and look at the information that CMD provides in return of your command
9. Look for ‘default gateway’ and you will see your default gateway address written in front of it
10. Note the gateway address and exit CMD by closing the window

Your gateway address should look something like 192.168.*** .***. All the addresses in a network start with the same part of the IP. They have the same prefix.

Wasn’t that easy? It will take less than a minute to find the router IP address. With this information, you can access your router’s web-based configuration panel and start diagnosis.

NOTE: You will need to enter your router’s username and password to access the admin panel. If you haven’t changed the password, you can find it written on the back of your router.

For Mac Users

If you are using Mac, finding your default gateway address is easy. Follow the easy steps below to find the router IP address on Mac.

1. Click on the Apple icon on the left corner of your system and access System Preferences
2. Now click on ‘Network’ to bring up network-related information
3. You can find your default gateway next to Router

There is also an alternative method for Mac where you use Terminal to find your default gateway address. Here is how it works.

1. Open Terminal by going to Applications>Utilities
2. Once open, input the following command and press Return on your keyboard
   netstat –nr |grep default
3. Now you can see your default gateway IP address on the screen

Just like Windows, you will input this IP address in your web browser address bar and hit enter to open the router software page. Here, you can start troubleshooting your network.

For Linux users

If you are a Linux user and want to find the default gateway address of your router, here is what you need to do.

1. Open Terminal on your Linux OS
2. It’s usually located in the top bar or bottom bar, depending on the Linux distribution you use
3. Once you have opened the Terminal window, enter the following commands
   ip route | grep default
4. Now wait a second for the output and note your default gateway address on the screen

Your gateway address should look something like 192.168.1.1. Once you know it, you can start configuring your router via its web admin panel.

If this didn't fix your network, you may need a new router. 

NOTE: These commands work for Fedora Linux but may not work on other distributions. If you are using another distro, check your Linux community forum for details.   

Conclusion

Your default gateway address allows you to open a router software admin panel where you can edit router settings. It’s often required to troubleshoot your router and network issues. We hope you can now find your router address in a minute with these tutorials whether you are using a Windows PC, Linux OS machine, or a Mac running iOS.